CPTnet
27 January 2005
IRAQ: A Trauma Story
By Cliff Kindy
Thirteen activists committed to human rights were
gathered in a circle. Peggy Gish had invited them to
examine the topic of trauma as part of a five-day
training that CPT Iraq brought to the group in Karbala.
The nine Iraqis hemmed and hawed after Nadia, the
facilitator for the day, held up a red paper heart and
asked them to tell a story of trauma and then tear out
a piece of the heart to indicate symbolically how each
was wounded by the trauma. One declared, "The heart
isn't big enough to show all the pain we each have
experienced." Another stated, "Every Iraqi could tell
stories without end." Finally, two of the CPTers
shared examples of trauma in their lives.
The floodgates opened. Assad grabbed the heart and
stated, "In the Iraq/Iran War, people died all around
me. I slept with dead bodies until they were carried
away. I helped bury the bodies after the 1991
resistance to Saddam Hussein. In this war [the 2003
US invasion of Iraq], I watched a friend explode
before my eyes as he de-fused US cluster bombs." He
started to continue, but Nadia encouraged him to let
others share.
Abbas spoke. "In 2003, a child was at the scene as
another child died violently. The child was unable to
speak for a year." He tore a corner from the heart
and sat down. Ahmed, a practitioner at the Kerbala
hospital, stood and reported his pain at seeing the
dozens of bodies come to the hospital after the
explosions in December 2004. Another told of a sniper
that blew up his friend who was at his side in a war.
He had to carry the body away.
Another story surfaced. "The oldest in a group of
handicapped children told me that their teacher was
the hero who saved their lives during the bombing by
Saddam Hussein in 1991 here in Kerbala." Then
Nadia took back the heart. "I was a student in the
college of literature in Baghdad. I am one of three
sisters and four brothers with a politically active
father who was in exile. Saddam removed me from the
university and placed me in the local technical
school. We were all threatened by the regime."
Another took the heart from Nadia. "I was working at
the hospital where we had volunteered to help as the
tragedy developed. A man came with a box of body
parts. He opened the box and pleaded, 'What can we
do?'"
Finally Sami, the translator, took his turn at the
request of the other Iraqis. "I was fighting in the
north in 1975. I went on leave. When I returned, I
looked and looked, but my entire unit was new. All
my companions were dead. I wanted to kill myself. I
could not manage the pain."
"How do we handle this trauma we have?" Nadia queried.
Ala'a responded almost immediately: "First we cry,
initially with words and then in silence. Men and
women, we cry."
This group of people was gathered to form a Muslim
Peacemaking Team. In the evaluation of the end of the
day Assad shared, "I am an angry person, easily
agitated. I am a different person because of you. I
want to participate in a CPT action."
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Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations. Supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world is its mandate.
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